General Knowledge Flashcards
What’s in a grape?
Skin, Seeds/Stem, Pulp
What does skin bring to the wine?
Tannin, flavour, colour (for red and rose wines)
What’s in seeds and stems?
high levels of tannin (making the wine bitter)
What does the pulp have?
Contains water and sugar and it also contains acids and flavours
Grape formation and ripening
- Flowering
- Fruit set
- Veraison
- Ripening
hierarchy of Climates
Cool = below 16.5
Moderate = between 16.5 & 18.5
Warm = Between 18.5 & 21
PDOs vs PGIs
PDOs cover relatively small areas and have tightly defined regulations
PGIs cover a wider area and have less strict regulations compared to PDO
Process of making red wines
- Crushing
- Alcoholic Fermentation
- Draining
- Pressing
- Storage or maturation
- Packaging (bottling)
How do you extract colour and tannin?
The heat created by yeast during fermentation helps to extract colour and tannin in red wine making
- For the colour in red wine ==> need to punch down or pump over to mix the skin throughout so that the colour and tannin are extracted
Process of making rose
- Crushing
- Alcoholic Fermentation (interrupted)
- Draining
- Pressing
- Alcoholic Fermentation (continued at a lower temperature)
- Storage or maturation
- Packaging (bottling)
Process of making white wines
- Crushing
- Pressing
- Alcohol Fermentation
- storage / maturation (in steel/concrete container or in oak barrel)
- Packaging (Bottling)
How do you make ice wine?
- Pick grapes with concentrated sugar whilst they are frozen
- Press grapes whilst they are still frozen, to extract the sugars
- Alcoholic Fermentation
- Fermentation stops due to high levels of sugar - so the yeast can’t transform all the sugar into alcohol
How do make low ABV Riesling?
- Pick ripe graps
- Alcoholic Fermentation
- Remove yeast using filtration
How do you make a dry wine, sweet?
- Pick ripe graps
- Alcoholic Fermentation
- Add sweetness - Low ABV
How do you make fortified wine?
- Pick ripe graps
- Alcoholic Fermentation
- Kill yeast by adding alcohol (high ABV)
Temperatures during alcoholic fermentation
Red - 20c to 32c
Rosé - short maceration and then fermented at white wine levels
White - 12c to 22c
Winery Vessels and their differences?
Concrete and stainless steel - Used for fermentation and storage and do not add any colour, odor or flavours. Air tight and prevent oxygen from interacting with the wine
New Oak - fermentation and storage. Add flavours directly to the wine and allows for oxygen to interact with the wine to give it flavour.
Toasting and its effects
toasting can produce sweet-spice - the more its toasted the less the flavours are transferred but the longer you can use the barrel
Malolactic Conversion
the bacteria lowers the acidity of the wine - giving buttery flavours. not really noticeable for red wine
